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South African English is a rich mix of Afrikaans, English, and indigenous languages such as Zulu and Xhosa. Martha and Grant discuss some favorite terms from that part of the world, including lekker, diski, and ubuntu. Also, where'd we get the term hurt locker and why do we say "pardon my French" after cursing? What's the difference between supposedly and supposably? And is having a vast vocabulary filled with obscure words really all that important?
This episode first aired April 17, 2010.
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South African English
Looking ahead to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Martha and Grant discuss some terms you might hear there.
Origin of "Pardon My French"
Why do we say "pardon my French" after cursing?
Canadian Vowels
A Dallas listener says he was confused at first when a friend from rural North Dakota reported coming home and finding a moose in his kitchen. Only later did he learn what difference the so-called Canadian raising of a vowel can make. More about Canadian raising in A Handbook of Varieties of English by Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider.
2010 Oxcar Quiz
Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about the Oxcar awards, given to fictitious films, the names of which differ by just one letter from the names of the real 2010 Best Picture Oscar nominees. Here's one such plot: "George Clooney plays a corporate downsizer who avoids close personal relationships by spending his time climbing evergreen trees."
Supposedly vs. Supposably
Which adverb is usually correct: supposably or supposedly?
Round-Heeled Woman
What's a round-heeled woman?
Hurt Locker Etymology
The 2010 winner of the "Best Picture" Oscar has a Seattle woman wondering about the term hurt locker. Ben Zimmer wrote about it recently in his column at the Visual Thesaurus and we talk about it, too. Here's the searing poem by Brian Turner called "The Hurt Locker."
Large, Obscure Vocabulary
The hosts discuss Ammon Shea's recent New York Times Magazine column about whether a large vocabulary filled with obscure and unusual words is all that necessary.
Lay vs. Laid
A medical transcriptionist who majored in English reports that her co-workers are squabbling over a sentence: "The patient was brought to the operating room, and laid supine on the operating-room table."
Evolving Pet Names
Martha shares a listener's email about a pet's name changing over time. In this case, it's a cat whose name morphed from "Orange Juice" all the way to "Lanny." Martha traces the con-cat-enation of monikers.
Newby Last Name
A Texas nurse says she's often teased about her last name, which happens to be "Newby." She wonders if she should change it and how long the term newbie has been around.
Plural of Mustache
Is it ever correct to refer to a mustache as a plural?
Pet Dog Name Change
Martha shares another email about the evolution of a pet's name, in this case a dog whose original name was Dumpster. Now the pooch is named after the 19th president of the United States. Sort of.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by A.G. Photographe. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Book Mentioned in the Broadcast
| A Handbook of Varieties of English by Bernd Kortmann and Edgar W. Schneider. |
Your caller asked about the use of "hurt locker" to get her children to do their chores -- I remember very fondly a 5th grade teacher who pretended to threaten us with "purple curtains" -- "If you don't finish your assignments on time, it'll be purple curtains for you!" etc.
With regard to the "laid-lay" surgery question, I side with "laid." I'm a doctor (a neurologist) myself, and have both positioned patients and dictated surgical reports, although my last was years ago. Here's my argument:
In a typical case, the patient is brought to the OR, and before anesthesia, does usually scoot himself or herself over from the stretcher to the operating table. However, once the patient is under anesthesia, the surgeon may well fine-tune the placement of the patient for best access to the surgical site, wherever it may be. Thus, although the patient does move independently to some extent, it is the surgeon who is responsible for the final position during the operation, not the patient.
Furthermore, a correctly written report always indicates the position of the patient during the operation. "Supine" and "prone" are technical terms in these circumstances. Later on, if there are complications, position may be an important piece of the puzzle, both medically and legally. I've seen nerve injuries related to improper positioning of a limb, for example, and you shouldn't imply that the anesthetized patient was primarily responsible for that position.
Hence, I'd say "the patient was laid on the table," implying "by, or under direction of, the surgeon."
But...wouldn't it be just as easy and much better to use the words "placed" or "positioned"?!
I had never heard of hurt locker before the movie (which I have not seen yet, but there are two hurt constructions that I remember from the mid- to late-sixties: world of hurt, which Grant mentioned, usually with the connotation, as I remember it, of being in deep trouble with the law, as in "He got caught after a hit-and-run, so now he's in a world of hurt"; and doing a hurt dance, tending to be used in an academic vein: "After that last exam he's really doing a hurt dance in physics." Either one could be used in other circumstances. I don't believe I've heard either of them much since I finished college in 1970. Wish I'd paid more attention.
Peter
Grant Barrett said:
A medical transcriptionist who majored in English reports that her co-workers are squabbling over a sentence: "The patient was brought to the operating room, and laid supine on the operating-room table."
Lynne said:
Thus, although the patient does move independently to some extent, it is the surgeon who is responsible for the final position during the operation, not the patient.
I agree with Lynne. I think that the "(was) laid" construction is correct in this context, even if the patient was able to perform the action his or herself. My reasoning is that the patient's position has to do more with the will of the doctor, than the will of the patient. Wedding guests are seated at numbered tables at formal weddings, but nobody shoves them down into their seats. Likewise at theater events. This construction implies that the placement is at the direction of another person. Since the point of the surgical transcription is to record the medical decisions, directions, and actions, the use of the "(was) laid" construction seems the more appropriate.
jcoreno said (in another thread):
I first heard the term, "newby" when I was a "new boy" in school, circa 1960.
My school (date withheld) also used newbie. Each newbie was assigned an old boy, usually a senior, to help show him the ropes. When the school began admitting girls, they began to use the term newgie (Note: with a hard g, like nougat). I'm not certain if the term newgie persists to this day, or was a transitional term.
Glenn said:
Since the point of the surgical transcription is to record the medical decisions, directions, and actions, the use of the "(was) laid" construction seems the more appropriate.
My reaction was to wonder: what is the role of a medical transcriptionist? To accurately transcribe the doctor's notes, exactly as the doctor wrote them, or to "improve" the notes?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Medical transcriptionists listen to dictated recordings made by physicians and other healthcare professionals and transcribe them into medical reports, correspondence, and other administrative material. They generally listen to recordings on a headset, using a foot pedal to pause the recording when necessary, and key the text into a personal computer or word processor, editing as necessary for grammar and clarity.
There was an interesting piece in the New York Times this weekend about pushback to globalization in France taking the form of fear of language pollution. Title - "Pardon My French". http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/arts/25abroad.html
Grant Barrett said:
Is it ever correct to refer to a mustache as a plural?
You mention it and I start seeing it*. Just last night, I ran across a description of Poirot's "mustaches" in "The Murder of Roger Ackroyd," by Agatha Christie, published in 1926.
I had to show my wife, "Look! There it is!" So, thank you for the show. It adds fun little moments to every day.
* Is there a name for this phenomenon? Like, when you buy a car, then you start noticing that model of car everywhere you go.
telemath said:
Is there a name for this phenomenon? Like, when you buy a car, then you start noticing that model of car everywhere you go.
How about "diegogarcity"?
"We also promised words for the experience of noticing a word for the first time and then feeling like you're seeing it everywhere. Here are a few: diegogarcity, the recency Illusion, and the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon."
(https://waywordradio.org/discussion/topics/road-trip-1/)
Thanks. Looking up "recency illusion" in Wikipedia led me to "selective perception". I like "selective perception" because someone who hasn't heard it can quickly grasp it without a lengthy explanation. (And because, in my mind, I will associate it with Doctor Who's Perception Filter, which keeps you from noticing things you're not supposed to 🙂
A locker on a ship is where things are stored. The chain locker is where the anchor chain is stored for example.
Ben Zimmer's article mentioned several sources, but fails to differentiate between soldiers and Marines. Remember that Marines, like Jim Webb, are members of the sea services, and have significantly differant slang than soldiers, even if they dress the same. I did three tours at the Army artillery school in Oklahoma, and it was always a "multicultural experience."
I entered the Naval Academy in 1986 and then accepted a commission in the Marines. Not only that, but my dad did a tour in the navy from '62 to '66, so I am full of nautical language. If, as a kid, I said to my dad, "hey, where is my sweatshirt?", he might say sarcastically, "look in the 'sweathsirt locker' under 'L' for 'Lost'."
Not only can a locker be a place to store items. A repair locker on a warship holds firefighting equipment and damage control items -- it is also a unit of sailors. A large enough ship has several 'repair lockers' distributed around the ship; e.g. Repair Locker 1, 2, etc. this is analogous to an Army unit of 1st Platoon, 2nd Platoon, etc.
The thing is that a 'locker' usually holds the things indicated by the noun before it. Say a bullshit locker is metaphorically full of bullshit. But lockers are also physical places in a ship. So if you enter a 'hurt locker', I imagine it as a room full of an awful lot of 'hurt'.
Ultimately, when you hear the word 'locker' you should immediately look to the nautical realm of terms and slang.
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